Before the waters get muddy...

“Water scarcity” is coming, loud and clear.

While European nations are guiding their citizens toward water conservation, the UK has prepared a new bill to bring water companies that pollute rivers, lakes, and seas under control. The bill grants the government significant powers, including prison sentences, against those who pollute the environment.

The Water Protection Special Measures Bill will give regulatory bodies new powers to take faster and stricter measures to prevent water companies from harming the environment.

In the UK, the government has also announced an emergency action package for the efficient use of water, but unfortunately, Turkey remains quite silent toward its citizens regarding the water crisis.

Our country is listed among those that will experience water scarcity in 2025.

Is anyone listening? No.

Let us remember; just a few months ago, due to the drought in the Çukurova region, a letter sent to village headmen (muhtars) by the Irrigation Union warned farmers, “there is no water, do not plant,” which caused a major stir on social media.

WITHOUT WATER, THERE IS NO AGRICULTURE!

Producers have begun to experience the negative effects of water scarcity. There is no water in the Büyük Menderes Basin, one of Turkey’s richest agricultural regions. Irrigation unions are allocating limited amounts of water to farmers.

There are 25 productive water basins in Turkey. Due to excessive water use in agriculture and the negative effects of climate change, four of our river basins are under the risk of absolute water scarcity (Marmara, Küçük Menderes, Burdur, and Akarçay).

The water level in five of our river basins is at a scarcity level (Susurluk, North Aegean, Gediz, Sakarya, and Asi).

Water stress is present in seven basins (Meriç-Ergene, Büyük Menderes, Yeşilırmak, Kızılırmak, Konya Closed Basin, Seyhan, and Lake Van).

Since producers are forced to farm with limited amounts of water, this situation will also negatively reflect on product quality and prices.

Consumers will realize the water crisis when they cannot buy products at the market and when no water comes out of their taps.

And then it will be too late!

In the summer of 2024, we investigated the facts about water in agricultural regions hit by drought. We went to the sinkholes formed due to incorrect policies in agriculture and saw them on-site.

We climbed to the tops of dams and documented the water that wasn't there. We filmed the poisons mixing into the water from textile factories built on the most productive water basins.

We included the testimonies of farmers who do not feed their own children the produce they grow with the water provided by irrigation unions.

And we concluded our documentary with the question of why a water mobilization has not yet been declared.

I think it was the most difficult documentary we have ever filmed. Our director of photography Cem Çimrin, Balkan Tekelioğlu on editing, and Hüseyin Sami Büyük Gezici and Furkan Bülün behind the viewfinder worked very hard.

We witnessed our SD cards melting during the interviews we conducted in extreme heat. Water is a multi-faceted, very complicated, and political issue! But if our future is at stake, one had to dive into the water.

There is sweat and labor in every frame of our documentary, which we prepared with the support of Axa Sigorta. What has not been told until today, the facts about water, will be brought to light.

Now, let us take our minds off the daily routine of politics and dive into the issue of the water crisis that will affect our lives.

Before it is too late tomorrow

“Before the Waters Get Muddy”…

See you at the premiere on October 22 at the AKM…